Swedish-German Talk on Defence: Approaches and Insights from Stockholm and Berlin

In an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment, robust Swedish-German defence cooperation is crucial to effectively responding to a growing roster of shared security interests and challenges. These include, but are not limited to, supporting Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression, facing Russian hybrid operations and grey-zone tactics, responding to growing tensions in the Arctic and finding common and unified strategies to deal with great power rivalries. As NATO and EU member states, Sweden and Germany have made substantial progress in deepening their bilateral defence cooperation, yet potential for further collaboration remains. Against this backdrop, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Nordic Countries are pleased to present the Swedish-German Talk on Defence, the first of two seminars exploring the defence and economic ties between the two countries. The seminar will discuss shared defence-related challenges and ways of responding to them, highlighting differences and commonalities between German and Swedish approaches, exploring opportunities for even closer collaboration and the further exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices. The speakers will be: Pål Jonson, Swedish Minister of Defence, Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Prof. Dr. Carlo Masala, Professor of International Politics at the Bundeswehr University of Munich, Ludger Siemes, German Ambassador to Sweden.